The tailor
One of the most important trades of the medieval caravan merchant is the tailor.
Coming from faraway countries, they used to bring new modes and rare goods (such as cloth and colours) that the local medieval culture hardly understood.
The trade was mostly practised by men, the master shopkeepers, together with women workers specialised in sewing.
The tailors were considered wealthy people belonging to the merchant class since they used to treat luxury goods.
The tailor was a very common figure starting from the XII century almost everywhere (in Milan there was a school for tailors in 1102 yet); in the Middle Ages the art of tailor was considered a “simple” art because to open a shop you just needed scissors, needle and strings.
But at the same time you also needed to have deep knowledge, handed down from one generation to another, and great abilities and precision.
In his shop, the tailor used to cut the clothes while the shop boys and the other workers sewed and completed the dresses. In the shop there were other activities too such as weaving, embroidering, leather and accessories, that is why merchants and tailors were very close one to each other.
The Patron Saint of the tailor's art is St. Omobono (Omobono Tucenghi- Cremona XII century): he was a laic saint, an entrepreneur, a merchant of the textile industry, venerated as the merchants' protector since eight hundred years.
In the Middle Ages the patron of every art was considered the intermediary between God and the Art; St. Omobono had a huge charisma and a deep devotion towards the practical activities, since he was both merchant and tailor, and that is the reason why the tailors' corporation chose him as the Patron.
A comparison between his figure and the medieval tailor simplified and satisfied the tailors corporation's need to be recognizable.
In that period, the wovens were all of organic origin, not a trace of synthetic materials.
The wovens are divided in two groups: of animal origins and of vegetable origin.
Wool and silk were made from animals, the silk was considered the most precious and rare.
In the beginning, silk was imported from China only, but around IV century in Byzantium they started upbringing the silkworm.
Then, under the Norman domination, the silk begun to be produced in Italy too.
Linen, Egyptian cotton, hemp and at a lower rate nettle and broom came all from vegetables.
The dyeing used for the cloth had both vegetable and animal origins.
They were applied by boiling some pigments with the cloths and fastened through mordants such as salt and albumen; because of their elements,those colours were destined to fade out soon.
The colours of the clothes had a very important social function; more colours the clothes had the more the owner was considered rich because of the high cost of the species used for the colouring (crimson, saffron, etc.)
The materials were handmade through the wool-winder, whose weaves were very simple, following straight and oblique directions.
That was the period where they start to produce the velvet too, even if it was rawer and less refined than the contemporary velvet.
The clothes model were the same both for men and women: under their dresses they wore the under tunic, which was usually made in linen.
These clothes change just for their length: longer, up to the feet for women, up to the knees for men.
The colours of the under tunics were not eye-catching, the clothes often had the natural colour of the linen, which was neutral.
The tunics were very different one from another about the type, the materials and the colours:
Pelicon: tunic for women with long sleeve and long up to the knees.
Kirtle: tunic for men with long sleeve and long up to the knees, typical for the presence on the bottom of the gussets , the triangles of cloth useful to expand the circumference of the tunic.
Surcoat: noble long tunic for women with decorated and flared sleeves.
Scapular: over tunic opened on both sides and wore up by men and women.
The main tools used by the tailors were: various sized scissors, needles made of bronze or bones,
sticks and ropes to measure the clothes, charcoals to mark the patches, thimbles made of bones and bronze, was wooden boards for taking notes.
In our re-enactment we represent the typical Norman merchant of the south, so all the dresses, the materials and the commodities on the stalls are typical of that culture.
Coming from faraway countries, they used to bring new modes and rare goods (such as cloth and colours) that the local medieval culture hardly understood.
The trade was mostly practised by men, the master shopkeepers, together with women workers specialised in sewing.
The tailors were considered wealthy people belonging to the merchant class since they used to treat luxury goods.
The tailor was a very common figure starting from the XII century almost everywhere (in Milan there was a school for tailors in 1102 yet); in the Middle Ages the art of tailor was considered a “simple” art because to open a shop you just needed scissors, needle and strings.
But at the same time you also needed to have deep knowledge, handed down from one generation to another, and great abilities and precision.
In his shop, the tailor used to cut the clothes while the shop boys and the other workers sewed and completed the dresses. In the shop there were other activities too such as weaving, embroidering, leather and accessories, that is why merchants and tailors were very close one to each other.
The Patron Saint of the tailor's art is St. Omobono (Omobono Tucenghi- Cremona XII century): he was a laic saint, an entrepreneur, a merchant of the textile industry, venerated as the merchants' protector since eight hundred years.
In the Middle Ages the patron of every art was considered the intermediary between God and the Art; St. Omobono had a huge charisma and a deep devotion towards the practical activities, since he was both merchant and tailor, and that is the reason why the tailors' corporation chose him as the Patron.
A comparison between his figure and the medieval tailor simplified and satisfied the tailors corporation's need to be recognizable.
In that period, the wovens were all of organic origin, not a trace of synthetic materials.
The wovens are divided in two groups: of animal origins and of vegetable origin.
Wool and silk were made from animals, the silk was considered the most precious and rare.
In the beginning, silk was imported from China only, but around IV century in Byzantium they started upbringing the silkworm.
Then, under the Norman domination, the silk begun to be produced in Italy too.
Linen, Egyptian cotton, hemp and at a lower rate nettle and broom came all from vegetables.
The dyeing used for the cloth had both vegetable and animal origins.
They were applied by boiling some pigments with the cloths and fastened through mordants such as salt and albumen; because of their elements,those colours were destined to fade out soon.
The colours of the clothes had a very important social function; more colours the clothes had the more the owner was considered rich because of the high cost of the species used for the colouring (crimson, saffron, etc.)
The materials were handmade through the wool-winder, whose weaves were very simple, following straight and oblique directions.
That was the period where they start to produce the velvet too, even if it was rawer and less refined than the contemporary velvet.
The clothes model were the same both for men and women: under their dresses they wore the under tunic, which was usually made in linen.
These clothes change just for their length: longer, up to the feet for women, up to the knees for men.
The colours of the under tunics were not eye-catching, the clothes often had the natural colour of the linen, which was neutral.
The tunics were very different one from another about the type, the materials and the colours:
Pelicon: tunic for women with long sleeve and long up to the knees.
Kirtle: tunic for men with long sleeve and long up to the knees, typical for the presence on the bottom of the gussets , the triangles of cloth useful to expand the circumference of the tunic.
Surcoat: noble long tunic for women with decorated and flared sleeves.
Scapular: over tunic opened on both sides and wore up by men and women.
The main tools used by the tailors were: various sized scissors, needles made of bronze or bones,
sticks and ropes to measure the clothes, charcoals to mark the patches, thimbles made of bones and bronze, was wooden boards for taking notes.
In our re-enactment we represent the typical Norman merchant of the south, so all the dresses, the materials and the commodities on the stalls are typical of that culture.